Nowadays, magnetic elements such as inductors and transformers are widely used in power supply apparatuses or many electronic devices to generate induced magnetic fluxes. Nowadays, the electronic device is developed toward to have small size. As such, the magnetic element and the conductive winding assembly of the magnetic element need to have slim appearance.
Take an inductor for example. FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded view illustrating a conventional inductor. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional inductor 1 comprises a bobbin 11, a magnetic core assembly 12 and a coil 13. The bobbin 11 has a winding section 111. The coil 13 is wound around the winding section 111. The bobbin 11 has a channel 112 running through the bobbin. Several pins 113 are disposed on the bottom surface of the bobbin 11. The terminals of the coil 13 are connected to the pins 113. Via pins 113, the coil 13 is electrically connected with a circuit board (not shown). As shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic core assembly 12 is an EE-type magnetic core assembly. The magnetic core assembly 12 comprises a first magnetic core 121 and a second magnetic core 122. The first magnetic core 121 comprises a middle post 121a and two lateral posts 121b. The second magnetic core 122 comprises a middle post 122a and two lateral posts 122b. For assembling the inductor 1, the middle post 121a of the first magnetic core 121 and the middle post 122a of the second magnetic core 122 are embedded into the channel 112 of the bobbin 11, and the lateral posts 121b of the first magnetic core 121 are aligned with respective lateral posts 122b of the second magnetic core 122. Afterward, the inductor 1 is assembled. Due to the electromagnetic induction between the coil 13, the first magnetic core 121 and the second magnetic core 122, an induction voltage is generated by the coil 13.
Since the bottom surfaces of the lateral posts 121b of the first magnetic core 121 are contacted with the bottom surfaces of respective lateral posts 122b of the second magnetic core 122, misalignment between the first magnetic core 121 and the second magnetic core 122 is readily generated. In this circumstance, magnetic loss is increased, and thus the efficiency of the inductor is reduced. Moreover, since the middle post 121a of the first magnetic core 121 and the middle post 122a of the second magnetic core 122 are apart from each other by an air gap, an edge effect is generated. As the air gap between the first magnetic core 121 and the second magnetic core 122 is increased, the eddy loss is increased, the edge effect becomes more obvious, and the temperature of the inductor 1 is increased. Since the magnetic core assembly 12 is an EE-type magnetic core assembly and the coil 13 is enclosed by the lateral posts 121b and 122b, the heat generated by the inductor 1 is difficult to be dissipated away. In this circumstance, the temperature of the inductor 1 is increased and a safety problem occurs. For solving this problem, an additional heat-dissipating mechanism is necessary and the fabricating cost is increased.
Moreover, since the magnetic core assembly 12 is an EE-type magnetic core assembly, the winding window of the inductor 1 is restricted by the EE-type magnetic core assembly. In a case that the winding window of the magnetic element is beyond an acceptable range, the size of the magnetic core assembly 12 and the diameter, turn number or thickness of the coil 13 should be adjusted. As known, the process of changing the specification of the magnetic element is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, the increase of the layout space of the magnetic element increases overall fabricating cost.
Moreover, for installing two inductors 1, the layout space and the material cost should be both doubled. In this circumstance, the layout space and the fabricating cost are increased.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved magnetic element module to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.